CASE STUDY: Yamaha Sky

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For decades, tasks such as agricultural spraying, precision spreading, and aerial ignition have been an expensive and time-consuming cost, requiring a large amount of specialised equipment and resource. Yamaha’s unique unmanned helicopters are revolutionising these industries, bringing an unparalleled level of cost and safety efficiency.

The Yamaha platform has been in service for over 30 years in Japan in service of rice paddy spraying with many iterations and refinements along the way. Since 2012 it has become obvious that this proven technology can and should be adapted to the needs of the 21st Century. R&D has been rapid, with aircraft deployments and new applications growing globally.

For example, in agriculture Yamaha’s team of pilots achieve highly accurate seeding and spraying, incurring little to no waste and a massively reduced risk of spray drift and operator exposure. Traditional weed control and reforestation with tractors, manned helicopters and handheld methods are not able to realise the same efficiencies in difficult terrain and sensitive ecosystems such as rivers and wetlands.

In partnership with Biological Services (WA), Yamaha was able to delicately apply predatory mites to avocado plantations from the air overcoming developed chemical resistance for growers.

In partnership with the CSIRO, Yamaha deployed over 6 metric tonnes of formula-specialised ant bait over Norfolk Island, and for the first time in years brought hope to the residents’ fight against destructive ant species.

In the Fire Incendiary services, Yamaha reduces risk to human life by creating access to difficult sites such as the heart of a forest fire or an unstable cliff face.

Yamaha Sky is at the forefront of UAV industrial applications in Australia, with new innovations emerging every year as customers continue to demand the leaps in safety and efficiency that technology can provide.

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